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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24560509">New Quest: Presidential Duties</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sIRoDDbALL/pseuds/sIRoDDbALL'>sIRoDDbALL</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Bandori Rarepair Week 2020 [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>BanG Dream! (Anime), BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 02:40:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,296</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24560509</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sIRoDDbALL/pseuds/sIRoDDbALL</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>This meeting with Hina would determine the fate of the joint culture festival. Rinko won't fail this mission.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hikawa Hina/Shirokane Rinko</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Bandori Rarepair Week 2020 [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1769083</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>39</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>New Quest: Presidential Duties</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>5: NFO</p>
<p>Hella surprised this ship wasn't a thing yet on here</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Rinko knew that her position as Student Council President would force her into very uncomfortable situations. But it was all experience needed to level up, if she had to put it simply. So for tonight’s event, she would be at her peak performance. This would help with the joint culture festival and there was no other environment she was best suited for than this!</p>
<p>“Rinrin!” Ako called. “Are you ready?”</p>
<p>“Y-Yes! I can do this!” She squeezed her hands into fists, summoning all the strength she needed. “This is something I can do… And you’ll be with me the entire time… right?”</p>
<p>“Yep! Nothing to be worried about my faithful companion!” Ako began laughing ‘menacingly’. “For we have seen sun… sunsets and uh- darkness… no uh-”</p>
<p>“Twilights…” added Rinko.</p>
<p>“Twilights!” Ako took up a pose and a magic circle appeared at her feet. “We have seen the fiery sunset over the horizon countless times and fought until twilight’s end! A feat such as this is no matter-”</p>
<p>“Hey!” A new voice yelled out. Rinko, with her quick reflexes, turned the volume down on the new caller. The strange close up of one of the Hikawa’s faces (it could be either one, it was hard to tell) made her grip falter for a split second. </p>
<p>Ako’s character on her NFO tab ended its pose animation and was motionless. “H-Hina-chin!? I didn’t hear you join! How long?” </p>
<p>“Just now? Something about twilights or whatever with the sky! It was pretty interesting so I wanted to see where it went.”</p>
<p>Rinko attempted to cut into the conversation. “H-Hikawa-?” </p>
<p>“Hina-chin! Give me a warning next time!” yelled Ako. Her voice was drowned out. “You scared me so bad!”</p>
<p>The Hikawa icon flashed. “Sorry sorry! It was funny though, can’t lie.”</p>
<p>Rinko tried again now. “Um, Hikawa-san?… Have you made an account yet?”</p>
<p>“Oh, yeah I’ve signed up and downloaded everything but I haven’t opened it yet.” </p>
<p>Rinko continued moving around the spawn area with Ako playfully following her. “O-Okay… when you do, it’ll take you directly to character customization since you’re a new player.”</p>
<p>She heard the loud clicking of a mouse, briefly wondering if that was just the mouse itself or Hina. “Ah, there’s so many! Which one do you think is good?”</p>
<p>“Oh! Lemme do this!” proclaimed the younger girl. “Sososo! I’m playing Necromancer. It’s this super cool class that raises the dead and does a bunch of cool summons! Rinrin has played all the classes before. Her main account is a Fire Wizard who does the regular fire spells and buffs but, like, waay stronger!”</p>
<p>“I-I can attack… from a long distance. Ako-chan can summon beasts to fight from the back.” Rinko paused and added on. “Um… your sister plays tank… she has high defense and slightly higher physical attacks than us…”</p>
<p>“Oooh gotcha!” Hina caught on quickly. “Alrighty, then the thief seems like the best one!”</p>
<p>Rinko had a sudden flashback to her thief account. “E-Eh?...T-That class is-”</p>
<p>“That’s perfect! We’ve really been needing someone with faster close-range,” Ako replied.</p>
<p>“B-But…” How to explain the perils of the thief class to new players… This was her area of expertise and comfort but, it was still hard to get the words out like this. Her opinion was important, wasn’t it? Hina and Ako were having fun though. She couldn’t get in the way of that. It was terribly silly of her to try and impose herself over this. Games were about having fun.</p>
<p>“Then that settles it. It’s thief time!” The sounds of computer-generated windchimes and flames were heard in the background. Rinko reasoned that she was using her phone for the call rather than a headset. </p>
<p>With that, the sound effects of the character model moving around echoed and there was no going back. Well technically there was, but it would be a little awkward to say anything like that right now. Besides it wasn’t as if Hina would be playing this that much. This was just a way of… something. Hina never specified what her intentions were when she asked about NFO. All Rinko took away from that confusing conversation was that she wanted to play with her and Ako even amidst the planning for the joint festival.</p>
<p>“Hm? This outfit…” </p>
<p>“Ain’t it super cool?!” said Ako, looking at a nearby thief player on the field as a reference.</p>
<p>“Nah, it’s not that. Well it is cool but,” Hina said. “I just wore something similar to this before. It was a shoot or something for our new CD jacket.”</p>
<p>“Ooh! I know! I know!” Ako shouted. Rinko hovered her cursor over the bat icon and turned her volume down too. “A to Z? The one that came with Wonderland Girl too!”</p>
<p>“Ding ding ding! Correct answer!” It was a bit startling how much she actually sounded like a bell. Rinko smiled at how lively the call was. This was enough right now. No need for interference. “Aaand, done!” exclaimed Hina. “Eh? What’s this? Pick a server?”</p>
<p>She fumbled with her mouse, navigating to the server information tab. “O-Oh… so MMORPGs… they have different servers… the world is the same b-but the players inside are uh...” Rinko struggled for proper words.</p>
<p>“Gotcha gotcha! I can zap between them and it’ll be the same anyways right?” Hina caught on quickly. “Oooh, what’s this one? AncientPickles03? What the heck, I’m choosing this one then!”</p>
<p>She flinched from the static on Ako’s side. “Ah, Hina-chin wait we’re not in that one we’re in DarkAbyssal01 so-”</p>
<p>“I’m in!” she proclaimed proudly. “Where are you guys?”</p>
<p>“W-Wait at spawn… We’ll join you there then…” </p>
<p>Rinko navigated the menus with practiced ease. Ako and her would often switch between the servers when it started getting too busy; unknown trade requests at their levels were one too many. But they would trade between themselves often so it would be a hassle to block and unblock requests constantly. It was just easier to stay in the quiet ones, though Ako often wanted to be in the ones with cool names. Those were usually popular with everyone.</p>
<p>Lucky for them, the green light indicated it was very calm. Rinko warped in at spawn and was met with Hina’s avatar. It was, in fact, very similar to Pastel Palettes’ ninja outfits. All the characteristics of the traditional Japanese outfit seemed to be altered to fit the setting. </p>
<p>Rinko spoke from her heart. “I-It suits you… Hikawa-san.” It was strange to say that to nothing more than an avatar, but the brief idea of Hina wearing something like this NFO outfit was very appealing to her inner seamstress. Maybe when they were closer… no that was thinking too far ahead.</p>
<p>Her character waved, meaning she already found out about the poses. “Don’t need to call me that, Rinko-chan. Just Hina is cool.”</p>
<p>“Huh?” exclaimed Rinko, her grip on her mouse tightening just a fraction. Did the world hear her inner thoughts? Or was it Hina who heard?</p>
<p>“Go for it! It’ll be easier for both of us,” Hina explained. Her reasoning was indeed sound; the pianist was familiar with both Hikawas now, at least, she hoped so in Hina’s case. </p>
<p>“You can do it Rinrin!” cheered Ako. Rinko wondered when Ako got into the server.</p>
<p>“T-Then…” She bit her lip, rehearsing her next words in her head. “Let’s… Let’s continue to get a-along, H-Hina-san…” The silence that followed was not nearly as embarrassing as the applause after that.</p>
<p>“You did it Rinrin! That was so cool!” She wasn’t sure what about that really constituted cool.</p>
<p>“Hehe, I’m in your care then!” Her character began dashing away from the town without warning. “Now, let’s go!”</p>
<p>Ako followed suit. “Hina-chin! Wait up! C’mon Rinrin! We got a tutorial to teach!”</p>
<p>“R-Right!” The two of them took up their mounts and chased after the faster character. The green plains of ones and zeros rendered as they closed the distance. “...there’s already an in-game tutorial though…” muttered Rinko.</p>
<p>“Who needs that when I’ve got super-level players like you guys?!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The area was teaming with passive enemies. Rinko couldn’t remember the last time she fought these slimes and giant insects. Ako took initiative on the lesson. “Alright, so to do your neutral attack you just right click and-”</p>
<p>“Oookay~ Ei!” The giant beetle took some damage. The name went from green to red as it began to attack the thief.</p>
<p>“Exactly! But you’re gonna keep hitting him until you get out of combat so-”</p>
<p>“Whee!” Hina began circling around the enemy. It couldn’t line up a single hit as the speedy class was designed for such a technique. Player reaction speed was always much higher than AI movement after all. It was something that Rinko liked about these classes, but she wouldn't abandon her wizard anytime soon for that, no way.</p>
<p>The two looked at the scene with amazement. “H-Hina-san picked up the skills so easily…”</p>
<p>“That’s Hina-chin for ya!” Ako cheered on. “You can do it!”</p>
<p>Hina backed away from the beetle after stunning it. Her dagger glowed blue and, “Special Hina Attack! Woohoo!” The beetle was down. </p>
<p>Rinko was surprised at how quickly Hina picked up on the mechanics. Sure, her DPS wasn’t as high as Rinko’s or Ako’s (she was only level three now), but she definitely had the skills to do moderately higher level dungeons no problem.</p>
<p>“Heeey, Rinko-chan?” called Hina.</p>
<p>“Y-yes?”</p>
<p>“Why don’t I have any thief-like skills?” Rinko could hear her confused face, if that was possible. “Like, I can slash and bash things, but don’t thieves like, swipe and steal?”</p>
<p>“Oh…” This was going to be a very complicated explanation. Hina would be bored in no time flat, but from what she heard of the genius, any withheld information would be noticed right away. After much debating and the social conversation timer ticking down, Rinko made a split second choice. “I-I’m not sure… I n-never looked into it.”</p>
<p>“Hmm, alright then,” Hina said, dissatisfaction oozing out. </p>
<p>She started to panic a bit. Rinko quickly tried to salvage the situation. “But!... T-The uh, the skill tree… if you keep going after the Phantom Craze evasiveness buff then you start getting more perks with increased EXP and rare drop gain. O-Otherwise, it’s more accurate to say the thief class works better as a ranger since NFO doesn’t have that-” She forcefully stopped herself there.</p>
<p>“Rinrin’s so cool and smart, after we started playing together more she studied up on all these classes to figure out how to get my super awesome spells and summons for the Necromancer!” Ako said, squealing at her supposed coolness.</p>
<p>“Yeah, she’s pretty cool!”</p>
<p>Hearing Hina call her cool was more validation than she expected it to give her. “I-It wasn’t anything that amazing.”</p>
<p>Suddenly, Tomoe’s distant voice came through the call. Rinko knew what this meant. “Ako! We gotta get going!”</p>
<p>“E-Eh? Onee-chan what’re you talking about?”</p>
<p>“Hm? Did you forget again Ako? Mom and Dad are taking us out to eat tonight.”</p>
<p>Something heavy thudded against the desk. “Aaah! That’s right! Rinrin, Hina-chin! Sorry! I was sure tonight would be fine b-but I totally forgot about this.” Her character left the game, leaving the wizard and thief to their own on the terrain of flower assets. </p>
<p>“Ahaha! It’s fine. See you tomorrow Ako-chan!”</p>
<p>“G-Good night, Ako-chan.”</p>
<p>“I’m so sorry!” With that, the bat icon left the call. Rinko and Hina were left in a moment of silence. </p>
<p>“Does that happen often?” asked Hina out of nowhere.</p>
<p>“Hm?... oh, sometimes… Ako-chan is a hard worker and we play as much as we can… but she has some trouble organizing her schedule…” Rinko explained. She never got mad at Ako, no that was impossible. But Rinko knew the girl had a decently busy calendar. Dance club, Roselia practice, and schoolwork on top of that; it wasn't surprising how forgetful the younger girl could be with her time. She could count multiple times where Ako had other plans in the middle of a raid.  She knew it was a good idea to run Fire Wizard.</p>
<p>“You two get along well huh?”</p>
<p>“Y-Yes… she’s been my best friend forever. I owe a lot to her…” Ako was her friend when she was too afraid to reach out to anyone else. She gave her so many things to treasure.</p>
<p>“Ahh, best friends forever huh… wonder what that feels like?” The guitarist said while slashing at another beetle that aggroed on her when she ran into it. “Aaand, special attack! Bam!”</p>
<p>Rinko couldn’t help but giggle at Hina’s mannerisms. It surprised her how similar she was to Ako when playing, though albeit a little better at the game starting out. No offence to her band-mate. She still loved her tons. If she were the girl before she became Roselia’s keyboardist, Rinko couldn’t imagine doing this with the hyper guitarist at all.</p>
<p>“Hey Rinko-chan!”</p>
<p>“Y-Yes?!”</p>
<p>“Onee-chan mentioned something with Robert and a dog quest a while back. What was that one?” </p>
<p>Rinko didn’t think she would be able to carry much of a conversation with Hina, but it seems like this Hikawa was more than willing to chat it up for both of them. Again, no offence to her band-mate. The other one this time.</p>
<p>“T-The dog quest is very tedious… It’s a dark forest so monsters keep swarming, so you end up using a lot of MP and potions just to try to get to the end… then the dog runs away to the canyon on the other side of the forest a-and they’re a lot tougher over there…”</p>
<p>“Pffft, what the heck?” laughed Hina. “How does a dog make it that far without getting attacked by the monsters?” </p>
<p>Rinko took a long time to respond. Could the writers be implying the dog is more powerful than the owner knew? Could it be that domestic animals have learned how to use MP skills? Or, was it just oversight combined with laziness? “...Good point.”</p>
<p>Hina didn’t really need an answer. “Well, doesn’t matter much, they ain’t real people or animals so let’s go!”</p>
<p>“Huh?... You wanna do that quest?!”</p>
<p>“Yeah?” Hina said, like it was the most obvious thing to do. “Lots of monsters means more experience right? Then I’ll get a lot stronger!”</p>
<p>It was a game, but Rinko preferred not to let her party members die. The idea of getting Hina killed was… “Yes… b-but there are better ways to grind a-and these ones are very high level so…”</p>
<p>“It’ll be fine! I’m pretty good at this game I think! And I can level up on stray monsters as we go, so I’ll be nice and beefy by the time we get to that forest,” the genius proclaimed, using the flexing pose. </p>
<p>Rinko checked her inventory, all stocked up on high-grade potions and phoenix feathers for any occasion. The levels of the enemy were more a threat to Hina than herself, but Rinko herself would still be chipped away at with how long the quest would take. A plan… </p>
<p>Rinko could at least wipe out as many enemies as possible. Any creatures left over from her fire spells Hina could land the killing blow no problem, which would be the best possible results of this crazy way to grind EXP.</p>
<p>“O-Okay! We can go together!” Rinko said, feeling more eager to approach this task.</p>
<p>“Yes! ...Soooo where do we start?”</p>
<p>Rinko found herself smiling. “We need to go back into town... Robert will have a quest for you and when we get to the mine, I can use my AOE attacks and wipe out the main threats… then, Hina-san, all you would have to do is deal the final blow and you’ll get the EXP points from them,” explained Rinko, as the two of them walked towards the town.</p>
<p>“Ehh, if it’s that simple, why doesn’t everyone have crazy high levels?”</p>
<p>She supposed talking about the game itself wouldn’t lead to too much of a rant. “NFO’s appeal comes from PVE and playing the main story… there’s no rush in grinding for new players, but serious players can still easily complete it over and over again with their prior knowledge.”</p>
<p>“I see.” Rinko was a little surprised by how engaged Hina was being right now. She always heard that the genius girl got bored; that she was always looking for something to interest her.  “And you chose to be the Fire Wizard? I didn’t see that option for me,” asked the thief.</p>
<p>“O-Oh… at some point in the main story, you can unlock your veteran class based on which path you take… Ako-chan was a summoner and she upgraded to Necromancer. As a mage, I had a choice between a dark path, a light path, and the elemental path… the elemental wizards had the most useful skills and spells for damage output.”</p>
<p>“And what about the thief?”</p>
<p>“Thief… from what I remember, it was light for ranger, dark for ninja or beast for-”</p>
<p>Another thud and Hina’s character stopped moving. She heard the girl’s laugh muffled against the desk. “B-Beast? A Beast Thief?! That’s so hilarious! What the heck does that class do?”</p>
<p>“I-I think they can befriend more monsters… o-or they can transform into one… more commonly NFO players call it the rogue…” The gamer explained, finding herself also swept up in the laughter. “They were struggling for some more original concepts with the thief from what I read.”</p>
<p>“Oh yeah, I can tell… Beast class, what the heck? Haha!” Hina seemed to calm down a little and they continued, fighting nearby slimes and picking up items Hina found interesting. “Hey, Rinko-chan?”</p>
<p>“...Yes?”</p>
<p>“What level are the monsters in the forest? Are they that scary?” asked Hina, who fought off an oncoming horde of green and blue slimes.</p>
<p>“Not scary persay… but much stronger than these slimes, maybe max at level 35…” explained Rinko. Hina reached level 10. “It gets worse in the canyon…”</p>
<p>“Yiiikes~ Here’s hoping I don’t end up in any sticky situation.”</p>
<p>“You shouldn’t?… there aren’t any slimes in the forest.”</p>
<p>The call was nothing but the hum of Hina’s laptop or computer as their characters walked through the town now. Rinko felt her palms get sweaty. Then, it hit her. “Oh I didn’t mean… I wasn’t making a pun…”</p>
<p>Something hit the floor, or the desk. Most likely Hina again since her laughter sounded so distant now. Rinko’s face “O-Oh my god! Rinko-chan! You’re way more interesting than I expected! Wow!” She personally didn’t think she was <em> that </em> funny? In the background, she vaguely heard Sayo’s voice followed by a closing door. </p>
<p>“...R-Robert is over here…” her voice meeped out, desperate for a change in topic.</p>
<p>Hina got back in her seat. “Okay okay, I’m good! Mister Rob, lay it on me!” she exclaimed. “...What’s this? Quest reward… golden fragment?”</p>
<p>“T-That’s a resource for high-level accessories… when we finally save the dog, it’ll have it in it’s mouth and it goes into your inventory… you can get EXP and gold from completing quests too…” said Rinko. She decided it wiser to not mention a marriage ring as one of the craftable items.</p>
<p>“In its mouth? Ah, is that why he wants it back so bad?”</p>
<p>“...Hmm…” Rinko had never thought of it like that. It was just another quest to her, but Hina was the type to linger on such details she supposed. “...I’m sure… that he does love his dog… he shows up again in a later quest…”</p>
<p>With the task accepted, the two took off towards the forest. “That so? Man, you spend a lot of time on this game,” commented the guitarist.</p>
<p>She wasn’t sure how to take that. It seemed like it was supposed to be a compliment, but the phrasing was a little strange. “I-I’ve been playing for a few years…”</p>
<p>“Seems a little time-consuming… Hey?” Hina called. “If you like this game so much, why don’t you talk about it more?”</p>
<p>NFO expert Shirokane Rinko didn’t know how to answer that. Was she being accusatory? Or just curious? It could go either way. “...um…”</p>
<p>The dark forest came into view. Hina shifted gears. “Ah! Already? Jeez, thought it would take longer if it was such a big deal.”</p>
<p>“T-There was a recent update… they shrunk down travel time I think…” Rinko explained, trying to shake off her frazzled mind. “Oh! I almost forgot! H-Hina-san, here.” She sent a trade request.</p>
<p>“What’s this?”</p>
<p>“...Click accept…”</p>
<p>“‘Kaaay.” The invite window disappeared and their trade box was open. Rinko dumped as many of her high-grade potions as she could into her section. “Woah, so many potions! Do I have to give you something too?”</p>
<p>“No… if you accept it’ll be fine…” With that, Hina was prepared to heal herself until morning comes. Rinko hoped it didn’t <em> have </em>to take that long.</p>
<p>“Rinko-chan!” shouted Hina. “You ready to do this?”</p>
<p>“Y-Yes!” After a quick buff to their speed and health, Rinko felt more than ready.</p>
<p>“Then, let’s go!” The two of them rushed off into the darkness of the trees.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“<em> Fire Wall! </em>” The mushroom monsters dashing towards them all but incinerated to nothing. A few enemies who ran ahead just enough to graze the fire were down to a third of their health. “Hina-san!”</p>
<p>“Leave it to me! Whee!” Hina, now a level 25 thief, easily took down the remaining wave of monsters to get up to level 27 now.</p>
<p>“Hina-san… you’ve gotten really used to this.”</p>
<p>Another pose, this time the wink and weapon toss unlocked after level 20. “Ehehe! I just spam that Quick Strike skill and it works out.”</p>
<p>“Yes… that move is a little broken…” she admitted. That was one of the many reasons her thief account was the lowest level. “I think… we’re almost there now…”</p>
<p>“Yaay! Here we come doggie!” Hina took off running suddenly.</p>
<p>“H-Hina-san wait!” Rinko noted to have her auto-run on all the time around Hina. They were making good head-way towards the dog. In fact, Hina was already there and should’ve noticed it.</p>
<p>“Oh? What’s this? A rabbit?” When she caught up to the thief, her face paled at the scenario playing out in her head. “Tenebris Lepus? Super low level too... Let’s kill it!” exclaimed Hina, engaging combat before Rinko could warn her.</p>
<p>“No… Hina-san wait!”</p>
<p>Just as quick as the thief herself, the enemy was killed. The explosion animation played, and Rinko’s character was mere pixels outside of the blast radius. The same could not be said about her companion. She could hear the sound effects from Hina’s end of the call. Her character fell to one knee and collapsed. A notification ran over the top of her screen, telling her that her party member needs to be revived. </p>
<p>“Ah… I died?” Soon after, the blast had aggravated the enemies in the nearby area, trapping Rinko and her fallen party member. Just up ahead, she could see the prompt for the dog already disappear. The character model ran away into the canyon. “This isn’t good, right?”</p>
<p>Rinko hot-keyed her mana potion and lined up for her best AOE spell. “<em> Flame Pillar! </em>” The blasts created a fire barrier around them perfectly. With a solid five minute cool-down on that skill, all the enemies around them were gone. She used up one of her 20 Phoenix Feathers and revived Hina. </p>
<p>Hina could drink a potion and all would be well, but the canyon was ruthless on new players. They needed to get out. “D-Don’t move,” she said, using another spell. “<em> Warp! </em>”</p>
<p>A blue magic circle appeared around them and it counted down from eight seconds. “R-Rinko-chan! This is awesome!” Rinko didn’t respond. She was on guard for any surprise enemies that could aggro onto her spell activations. Luckily enough, there was no such surprise and they were back outside the forest.</p>
<p>“...We got out… somehow…” For a quest so under her level, it took more out of her than she thought. That was the price of protecting lower level players, she supposed.</p>
<p>“Rinko-chan!” Hina talked animatedly. She imagined if they were in person, playing side by side, Hina would jump into a hug or something else… touchy. “It was so cool how you were poppin’ fires left and right, and then you did that super zappin’ rescue with the cracklin’ pillar and and and!”</p>
<p>“H-Hina-san… please calm down.” She must’ve activated another fire spell on her PC. </p>
<p>“But there’s some things I don’t really get,” said Hina. “Why did I just die in one hit? And why did that thing explode?” </p>
<p>Rinko felt a pit open in her stomach. Was she going to be disappointed? Rinko should’ve said something earlier, but she was too cowardly. And now, it was back-firing. “...I-I was gonna say earlier that it was a bait enemy… A fake Luminous Lepus…” </p>
<p>The gamer heard her groan loudly. “No faairr!”</p>
<p>“As for your death, uh…” She winced as Hina’s hum of curiosity rang loudly in her ears. “...the Thief Class… has very little defense… and h-health… if you don’t put points into that even a few hits from a level 10 enemy could kill you…”</p>
<p>“Oh? So I need more levels?” Rinko hummed in affirmation. “Then I just need to do missions with you all the time?” asked Hina.</p>
<p>“M-Me?...”</p>
<p>She could hear the girl tilt her head. “Sure? As long as you aren’t busy.”</p>
<p>“...Aren’t you mad?” Rinko wasn’t sure why she was still talking. It was strange to open up to someone you barely knew. Was Hina someone she didn’t know that well? Or was this the vague gray area? Her mouth kept running on its own regardless of her storm of thoughts. “...I didn’t tell you… even though I should have…”</p>
<p>Their avatars haven’t moved in a while. “No? It would’ve been nice to know, but I don’t think it’s a big deal either way.”</p>
<p>“I see…” Now she just felt like a fool. All this progress, and she was still caving in at every turn. Her growth seemed so slow. Rinko and Hina were Student Presidents, but if they both ran for the position, Rinko couldn’t imagine how she would even begin to compete.</p>
<p>“Hey, Rinko-chan?” Hina called out. “You didn’t answer me earlier. Why don’t you talk more about this game?”</p>
<p>Again that strange question. Rinko’s game explanations have been all she talked about tonight, so what did Hina mean? “...But I have-?”</p>
<p>“No no, not like that.” Hina sounded a little frustrated, but not with Rinko. She was trying to find the right words. “Like, I always had to say something which is fine. But I wanna hear you ramble on longer or like, just talk about it naturally!”</p>
<p>Now this, Rinko never expected from anyone in a million years. Her mind could barely process what was just said.</p>
<p>“If you don’t feel like it, that’s fine. But I think this game is pretty boppin’ so far,” she explained. “And it’s mega boppidy boppin’ whenever anyone just booms with energy when they think something is boppin’ to them. That’s why I wanted to do the joint festival.” Hina continued, even as Rinko grew quiet. “It’s something I learned from Pastel Palettes. We’re all different, but if we share what we think is fun, then everyone can join in. See? Infinite boppage!”</p>
<p>There it was. That radiating aura of endless spirit and self-assured personality that earned Hina’s spot as Student Council President. This was her selfish reason for getting closer to Hina. If just a fraction of that personality rubbed off on her, then she would be so much more capable.</p>
<p>“D-Don’t you get worried?...” asked Rinko.</p>
<p>“Worried? About what?”</p>
<p>She felt it a bit strange to open up so easily, yet it felt right. “...What others might think?... if people don’t like…” she trailed off.</p>
<p>“Not really?” An answer Rinko expected very much. “I mean, I am who I am. That’s not gonna change no matter what!”</p>
<p>Rinko felt a question burn up in the back of her throat. It got stuck and she forced it out in one go. “...How do you do it? How do you have the confidence to speak your mind?…” </p>
<p>“You’re doing it right now, aren’t you?” Rinko let out a slight gasp at the realization. “At first you were a little quiet, which wasn’t bad but you were all squeezed up. After we started playing more, you were like, super boppin’! When you start getting heated, you’re one of the most boppin’ people I know!” Hina began to rant. Rinko didn’t stop her. “And then, when you get boppin’, everyone else feels the same too! You get everyone infected, just ask Onee-chan!”</p>
<p>Her screen went gray as they had not moved their characters during the entire exchange. Hina made no notice towards it. Rinko did, however.</p>
<p>“A-Are you in AFK mode right now?...”</p>
<p>“Is that when my screen is gray like right now?”</p>
<p>“Yes… It’s the same for me… in this mode, no one can interfere with our characters.”</p>
<p>“What? So we don’t get killed by someone?”</p>
<p>“Y-Yes… NFO doesn’t encourage PK-ing as you get minimal experience if you do… it’s more efficient to kill monsters together. Still, some like to do it when they can, so this is a precaution for it…”</p>
<p>Hina made a sound of acknowledgement. It meant more to Rinko than she probably ever knew. “You explain things really well! It’s a lot like how Maya-chan does it.”</p>
<p>“O-Oh… then I’m flattered…” Rinko strummed her fingers against her mouse pad. Being praised for just talking is a ridiculous concept to anyone else. She still felt really happy about it. “I guess… this is boppin’?...”</p>
<p>The silence this time was far shorter. “Rinko-chan! I love you!”</p>
<p>“Eh?!” She didn’t know Hina learned an actual fire spell. If anyone were to actually pull that off in her reality though, it would be Hina. Still, why did she have to cast it on her face? That, and land a critical hit as well.</p>
<p>“We gotta play again! We gotta save that dog next time!”</p>
<p>“Y-Yes… but after you level up a little more…”</p>
<p>“Sweet! Let’s do another dungeon!”</p>
<p>“A-Another?” Rinko glanced at the time. So much work for the joint festival left to do, and her day was almost gone.  “...I-I would like to keep playing… but it seems like a better idea to stop for now… you can keep playing though if you want to.”</p>
<p>“Why not? We can grind together, can’t we?”</p>
<p>“Y-Yes, but I still have some work to do on my part of the joint festival.”</p>
<p>“Eeeh, still? Want me to help?” </p>
<p>Rinko considered agreeing but… maybe this was better done on her own. It wasn't like she didn't want to burden her, though still a factor yes. This was her personal work, her own ideas. Having someone else help for something like this wouldn’t be true to herself. “I’m sorry…”</p>
<p>“Hmm, 'kay but… If I’m not playing with you or anyone else, wouldn’t that be a waste? I wanna play with you!” Rinko thought it was unfair how charming Hina's bluntness was. What was that cool-down on her spell anyways? “If you can’t play though, then that’s that. I’ll see you later?”</p>
<p>“...Yeah… later Hina-san…”</p>
<p>With that, their long night came to a close. Instead of hopping into the work right away, the keyboardist laid down in her bed. She was very much tired, but there was some kind of feeling swelling in her chest.</p>
<p>That thief would steal away her heart if Rinko wasn’t careful.</p><hr/>
<p>XxdarkDemonprincesxX: <em> heeey rinrin</em></p>
<p>
  XxdarkDemonprincesxX: <em>so after i got back i asked hina-chin how it went</em>
</p>
<p>XxdarkDemonprincesxX: <em>then hina-chin was spamming me with questions about you this whole night… </em></p>
<p>XxdarkDemonprincesxX: <em> rinriiiiiin haaaaalp </em></p>
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